Sowing the seeds for export growth and economic development

Everyone has to start somewhere. In the 1860s, Edmund McIlhenny, founder of the global TABASCO brand, sowed pepper seeds and nurtured the plants in his garden, and in his first year of business sold a grand total of 658 bottles of hot pepper sauce. Fast forward some 150 years, in a different garden halfway around the globe, Phephile Hlope is nurturing her chilies in her garden in Eswatini. The model is clearly working: In Eswatini, where half of SWIFT’s members operate from, they have seen a 49 per cent increase in sales across the board, and a corresponding 47 per cent increase in wages or take-home pay for staff and producers. In the process, SWIFT has helped create over 800 sustainable jobs in the food, natural cosmetics and handcraft sectors.

But setting up a food production company is not quite as straight forward as it might have been 150 years ago. Standards and regulations are strict and can be difficult to navigate, and they become even more complex when producers start contemplating cross-border trade. Without support, these barriers can seem overwhelming for a small-scale producer like Phephile, who fully credits her progress to the help she has received from Swaziland Fair Trade (SWIFT).?

As one of Trade Forward Southern Africa’s key business support organisation (BSO) partners in Eswatini, SWIFT has a total of 171 member enterprises under their umbrella, that combined, employ around 7,000 people of which 97 per cent are women. These enterprises are split into three levels, from Level 1 that includes small companies such as Jo Jo Mdnanzi, to Level 3 firms with 10 or more employees that export regionally or globally. Each level has specific training modules that speak to their individual needs. “These modules took us years to develop,” explains Julie Nixon, Country Director of SWIFT. “Everybody working for SWIFT has run their own business, and we took our business knowledge and our years of experience and applied them to the modules.” The modules span from foundational business training for the micro-enterprises through to management skills for the big exporting firms, and the firms act as mentors for the ones a level down. “When we started 15 years ago, our main objective was to overcome poverty, and that is still our vision,” explains Julie. “We try and share knowledge and get everyone up a level of growth, because we’re all aware that the only way to overcome poverty is when we do it together. Everybody shares knowledge and resources and, together, we strengthen the whole chain.”?

The model is clearly working: In Eswatini, where half of SWIFT’s members operate from, they have seen a 49 per cent increase in sales across the board, and a corresponding 47 per cent increase in wages or take-home pay for staff and producers. In the process, SWIFT has helped create over 800 sustainable jobs in the food, natural cosmetics and handcraft sectors.

In 2021, TFSA launched its partnership with SWIFT and, among other initiatives, funded training on HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) in the food manufacturing space, and on labelling and packaging requirements for food and natural ingredients products. Fourteen representatives from Levels 1 and 2 enterprises attended these training sessions in person and, in turn, trained their own staff and members from their local groups and associations. Once the producers have put the necessary health and safety and hygiene practices in place, regional health inspectors – also trained by SWIFT and TFSA – will conduct visits and issue certification.

“I learnt a lot about how to safely develop my product and the importance of standards in food processing,”

Phephile says that, before the training, she had no idea about HACCP principles. “This was very important to me, because now I know what to put in place to ensure my product is of good quality and safe for the consumer.” Of the training on labelling and packaging, she says that “before, I just scrambled the information everywhere on the bottle, but now I know what details I must include, and how to position it on the label to make my product stand out on the shelf. As soon as I came back from the training, I sorted out my logo, batch code and ingredients on the label.” Phephile now follows her batch check list and production sheet and is also improving on her marketing strategies as a result of the training. “In just a few months, it has already helped my production and my sales have increased by over 60 per cent.”

The next step, Julie says, is to send the producers’ products for testing at the South Africa’s Standards Bureau for further certification, and then introducing the various producers to potential buyers.

“One thing that is really key in any kind of training, is that if you’re doing capacity building, then you better do market access as well. Because if people don’t see a difference in their pockets they’re going to drop out of the programme, that’s just how it is. After introducing them to some of the domestic chains here, then hopefully that will help their business grow and they can start looking at regional markets.”

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Julie and her colleagues are not resting on their laurels. Having just kicked off a 12-week online course on ISO 9001 for manufacturers on cosmetics and natural products, and a 16-week course on FSSC (Food Safety System Certification) for food producers, they will also be mentoring coaches in Eswatini for the TFSA and Future Females Women in Trade Export Trade Training programme. “We couldn’t do any of this without TFSA,” Julie says. “If you look at our Level 1 enterprises, they’re so busy producing and selling or doing their admin, they don’t have time for research. There’s no time to invest in growth. But, with TFSA’s support, SWIFT can come in and say ‘come on guys, you can go further’ and people are on board. Even us, as a business support organisation, we’re building our own capacity, we’re learning and that is so important. Personally, I’ve been learning about the processes involved with natural cosmetics, understanding more about food hygiene and food safety and regulations, and that is helping me to have a better understanding of how to help someone else to get their export somewhere, which is fantastic. For our entrepreneurs, if you look at the pre and post training surveys we did, the ratings are fabulous, they’re really, really good! People are learning and comprehending, and it’s making a difference.”

For Phephile, this support has allowed her to dream big – not just for herself, but for the people around her as well. “I strongly believe that, by this time next year, my products will be there in the local shops, and I will be working towards the global markets. Being an exporter is my dream. Working with the women in my community is my dream. The bigger I grow, the more people I will be hiring. There are no jobs for women in my community, they are suffering a lot, but I think this will be a path to better lives for them and their families.”

Producers based in Eswatini can contact SWIFT and TFSA through their websites https://www.swazifairtrade.org/contact-us/ and https://tfsouthernafrica.org/contact-us/.?